Developer : Codemasters
Release date : July 1998
Synopsis :
Colin McRae Rally is a racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. It features 8 official cars and their drivers and rallies from the 1998 World Rally Championship season, in addition to 4 extra cars. A 2D version was released for the Game Boy Color / in Europe in 2001. It was developed by Spellbound and published by THQ.
Colin McRae Rally is a rally simulation game, featuring the works-entered cars and the rallies of the 1998 World Rally Championship. There are three difficulty modes in the game, and each mode offers different cars: the Novice mode offers FWD F2-class cars, such as the SEAT Ibiza F2 Kit Car, the Intermediate mode offers 4WD World Rally Car class cars, such as the Subaru Impreza WRC, and the Expert mode offers the ability to unlock bonus cars, such as Ford Escort MKII, Lancia Delta Integrale, Audi Quattro S1, and Ford RS200. There are a total of 12 cars, produced using laser-modelling. When released in North America in 2000, only 11 cars featured due to Codemasters losing the license to use Renault in Novice mode. Renault were replaced by extra drivers from the remaining 3 manufacturers. Also unlike in the European release of the game (real driver names), the American release has made-up driver names (apart from Colin McRae)
Seven official rallies (New Zealand, Acropolis (Greece), Australia, Monte Carlo, Sweden, Corsica, and the United Kingdom), and one unofficial rally (Indonesia) from the WRC were included in the game. Rally Indonesia was originally part of the 1998 WRC season calendar, but the rally was cancelled due to civil unrest. Although the rallies themselves are named the same as the real events, all of the stages are fictional.
When the game was re-released on the PlayStation “Value Series” budget label in 2000, Rally Monte Carlo was renamed as Rally Austria. On the loading screen for each rally, 2000 replaced the year 1998. The intro was cut in the yellow Bestsellers version. Also the yellow logos on the Subaru Impreza car were removed. It’s also noticeable on the front cover and viewable in the screenshots from the back cover.
Although there is no internet-based multiplayer, the game does feature LAN-based multiplayer, allowing up to 8 drivers, on the same network, to compete at once, in addition to a 2-player split-screen mode. Sales soared, and the sequel Colin McRae Rally 2.0 was released on December 2000.
Source : Wikipedia
